Two as One Princesses

a sudden chill, sharp pain ran through the base of my neck.
Moving only my eyes down, I saw a thorn of ice extending from the ground to my throat.

If this wasn’t a mock battle, this thorn of ice would have absolutely pierced my neck.

I let my guard down?
That may be partly true.
However, above all else, I was made to realize the overwhelming gap between us.

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆
（Ainsel POV）

The mock battle with Friere-san.
Showing composure, Ciel gave her the first attack –– Ciel is higher up rank wise, so it’s only natural –– but I was surprised when she cast sorcery rivaling Glacio Lentso8 from the very first move.
Unlike Glacio Lentso9, which can be managed as long as it’s deflected, this one had a long effective duration which was extremely troublesome.
Though, on the other hand, Glacio Lentso10.
was usable in rapid succession.

Due to that sorcery, with the exception of the usual barrier enveloping Ciel like a membrane, all but the innermost layer of the barriers were burned away.
Even the innermost barrier that I made thinking it could probably endure an attack from an A-rank monster got pretty damaged.
Honestly speaking, she really showed no mercy.
And since she’s attacking us with all she has, we decided to show some of our real strength as well.

Specifically, Song Princess and Dance Princess were unbanned.
As the surrounding area was burning from the first sorcery’s aftermath, we purposefully covered it with Ciora Elicinary11..
Ciel was the one who chose it though.
I was singing, so I couldn’t speak.

Intentionally leaving the damaged barrier as it is, I decided to use this dance to test its durability.

As long as she doesn’t cast the first sorcery again, it probably won’t break.
As I thought that, it then got pierced by a spear that was thrown under the cover of fire bullets.

I don’t know what came to Ciel’s mind when she caught that spear and started dancing with it, but the mock battle ended safely.
Ciel flourishing a spear was a great sight to see.
Today in particular, she could use the power of Dance Princess as much as she wanted, so Ciel seems really happy about that.

Come to think of it, I think this is the first time Ciel ever fought using Dance Princess with other people looking.
Ciel’s opponents getting fascinated by her dance mid-battle is a surprisingly interesting discovery.
I don’t know if it really does fascinate, but Friere-san clearly stopped attacking, so this might actually be the case.

In a sense, this might be the proper form of Dance Princess.

『It ended without any problems.
Good work, Ciel.』
『Good work too, Ain.
I was surprised when she broke Ain’s barrier, but it was a lot of fun doing so much!』
『Then I’m glad that you enjoyed it.』
『That aside, it isn’t it curious that Carol wasn’t surprised seeing how I fought?』
『True, she didn’t look shocked at all.
On the other hand, she did seem to be in deep thought though.』

After Friere-san’s loss was declared, I talked with Ciel while we headed to Carol-san.
From what happened, Carol-san should have noticed that we have multiple Jobs, and she might have even noticed more than that.
I already plan to talk about it later, so it’s like we’re just showing her in advance.
It‘d also be easier to explain if she took the hint, so it’ll help.

「That was a brilliant defeat.」

As we reached Carol-san, she gleefully taunts Friere-san.
Friere-san grimaced in displeasure, before then letting out a huff.

「Yes.
This time I’ll frankly accept my loss.
It was a complete defeat.」
「I was a bit surprised too.」
「I broke through your barrier, didn’t I? Yet even that is just slightly surprising……」

Friere-san seemed pretty prideful to me, but I guess she’s the type that honestly accepts these sorts of results.
Still, it’s true that being prideful doesn’t necessarily equate to being incapable of accepting losses, maybe it’s even because she’s prideful that she accepts that she lost to someone clearly younger than her.
As I was there all convinced by myself, Carol-san joined Ciel and Friere-san’s conversation.

(This chapter is provided to you by Re:Library)

(Say no to content thief!)

「So talking’s done now, right?」
「Don’t right me.
What’s with you, Ice?」
「What I mean is that we don’t have the time to play around with you.
To begin with, she didn’t come to the guild to have a mock battle with you, right Ciemer?」
「Yeah.」

Ciel immediately answered Carol-san’s question.
Probably because of this, Friere-san can’t respond strongly and she’s not saying anything even though she looks like she has something to say.
Carol-san ignored this and began walking away.

Ciel followed suit and left.

「I get it already! I’ll definitely make you cry someday!」

And though she says that, Friere-san also follows behind Carol-san, and I can’t help but think that they might actually get along well.

And that ends Friere POV~! Hiya~! Continuing from the last chapter, we get our first mid-combat dance in a long while.
And, for the first time ever, it’s even from another character’s POV!

First of all, dance chapters are one of my favorites not only to read but also to translate, as it should be.
Lore wise, from what was confirmed in this chapter, Ciel’s dancing has the ability to *really* take a target/enemy’s attention.
Well, by nature, excellent dancing is enchanting and fascinating to see, but the implications this has for combat purposes is just… yeah.
And as Ain says, this is probably the true form of the Dance Princess, or any offence type Dancer Job in that regard, to enchant the opponent with refined movements, while increasing or reinforcing the combat ability of the dancer either from following a song or from performing a form perfect “dance”.
They’d be highly athletic or acrobatic too, and have good conditioning, so while they might not have explosive power against monsters by themselves, with a team or even against (single) human enemies, they probably excel just from the feint potential.
But yeah, this is all just speculation at this point and not really on topic…

Back to topic.
I love how it’s from Friere’s POV and another of my favourite parts of the chapter is actually Friere’s throwing spear.
The show of her creativity on how to overcome her weaknesses her own way.
As she admitted in the previous chapter, she’s kind of a muscle head compared to the pure sorcerers Carol and Viviana.
With Carol, she’s just plainly a genius in sorcery and loves the studying part.
With Viviana, she’s pragmatic and practical with her spells because of her magic power issues, which forced her to learn to make the best of what she has (but she overcomes it by being cured, so yeah).
With Friere, she was hit with a roadblock that’s in the very nature of her magic, the lack of literal destructive weight.
And she solved it in a way that’s telling of her personality.
Not by making a new spell through research (something that Carol would probably do), but by using a brute force method with an actual physical spear.

What I like most is how this shows a reoccurring theme that I’ve found in many Game-like Job/Skill system novels: Using unconventional methods and thinking that’s beyond the skill system to overcome the inherent “box ” you were born in to make the best out of it.
It’s mostly in the case of protagonists of those series or the supporting characters/harem members, like how the mc’s “weak” class or skill is actually OP when abused correctly, but many of these stories are also plagued by cliched writing, so yeah… Anyhow, just as with Ain and Ciel, their Jobs aren’t inherently “Magic-based”, except for Ciel’s, maybe, but they still learned magic even though they don’t have the “additional buffs” the magic Jobs provide.
Heck, Ain can’t even integrate her Job with her Magic.
Still, their Jobs are inherently unconventional, unlike in other stories where the “non-special Job” needed an mc with unconventional thinking.
This reflects again with Friere’s brute force method.
And, I think, the main reason I like this theme is what the best telling of this theme stands for.
Common? Normal? Mediocre? Or maybe even Weird? Whatever “Job”, “Skill”, or “Talent” you were born with doesn’t matter, what matters is your personal efforts and how you apply your toolset in the journey through life.
I’m being cheesy, aren’t I?

Also, Friere being a non-toxic version of a standard prideful noble lady while being also a muscle-head and somewhat tsundere is funny.
Yes, I like her as a character.
And I’ve strayed too far off topic from just an offhand scene, yes.